It’s a strange sort of niche topic to write about the design philosophy surrounding Firaxis’s unit aesthetics, but here we are:
Civilization 7, set to release on the 11th of February, 2025, had its first gameplay showcase recently. The video, which detailed a number of gameplay changes players can expect in the coming year, gave a sneak peek at the combat animations in-game. As it happens, units that are at war with each other, and are standing next to each other, remain in a perpetual state of gorgeous combat animations.
Instead of optimizing the game around CPU chugging, which will absolutely still be the late-game experience, now your GPU, as well, can suffer the fashion that is Civilzation’s apparent need to make the game that much more visually pleasing. And from what we’ve seen, it’s a smoke show.